Practical Tips to Lower Your Monthly Grocery Bill

For most households, groceries are one of the biggest expenses. And because of inflation, the cost of stocking up your fridge and kitchen is increasing by the day. Thankfully, the internet has enabled several means to lessen this burden. Here are some easy ways to save hundreds of rupees on your monthly bill:

• Shop Online
• Buy in Bulk
• Time Your Purchases
• Comparison Shop
• Pay via Gift Cards

Shop Online

E-commerce companies offer generous discounts, while Kirana stores and supermarkets sell at a modest price cut and often at MRP. Online prices are at times 25% lower than offline ones. Plus, buying online saves time and avoids hassle. What’s there not to like?

Amazon Fresh, BigBasket and Flipkart Grocery are good options to buy from, but feel free to try others.

Buy in Bulk

If the item doesn’t go bad over time, or you expect to use it before it does, always buy in bulk. Bigger packs are cheaper than their smaller siblings, often by 20% or more. But sometimes, ongoing offers make the smaller packings more lucrative. Check the effective price per kilogram/per litre/per unit to compare different sizes. Also, calculate these numbers yourself: the ones that Amazon shows are frequently incorrect.

Shampoo, detergent, bathroom cleaner etc are cheapest when bought in the biggest packs. Refills/pouches of coffee, hand wash liquids, and floor cleaners are more economical than their bottled variants.

For some items, larger packs may not be made or be suitable for your consumption pattern. In such cases, buy several small packs online, and maintain a reserve. This will reduce the chances to buy at full price from the local shop at the last moment. Chips, biscuits, aerated drinks, club soda, etc. are good candidates to stock up, provided you consume them regularly. Beware of the temptation to eat more junk because it is available at all times!

I would caution against buying several months’ worth of pulses in one go: they risk catching bugs as well as losing taste and texture, as time passes.

Let us look at the difference in pricing across sizes for a few common items¹:

Buying in bulk also simplifies shopping as the number of items to buy each time reduces. As a bonus benefit, bigger packaging generates less waste.

Paying for the bulk shopping

Some people worry that they can not afford to buy in bulk as they never have enough cash handy. That their monthly budget would go out of whack if they do this. If you have similar concerns, try the following:

For a couple of months, reduce the allocation to savings and use the money to buy groceries in bulk. After this initial period, the average bill will settle down at a much lower value than the present. You will be able to set aside more for savings every month as well as cover up the lost savings of earlier months.

Time Your Purchases

You can boost your savings further by shopping between 1st to 10th of every month, when pricess are lower than the rest of the month and stores run attractive spend-threshold based offers, such as ₹200 cashback on purchase of ₹1500 or more.

Comparison Shop

Never believe that wherever you are buying from has the lowest prices on all the items or that the difference with other companies would not be much. Comparing prices, at least for the more expensive items, can save you a further 5-10% on the total bill.

To become the preferred shopping destination, every e-commerce company aims to instil a belief that they offer the best prices. Thus, they price a few popular items/staples at eye-popping prices and some at the same level as the competitors. Since most people do not pay much attention when buying groceries, companies sneakily cover for the passed up profits on the remaining items.

Since every company uses a custom pricing logic, the difference in prices can be sizable, as the examples below show:

Also, notice how some products are not available across all the three companies. This is expected since each company stocks only a limited number of products. Checking other websites thus also increases the chances of finding the items that you need, in the sizes that you prefer.

If you fail to meet the minimum order value for one of the apps, move the low-cost/near-identical price items from the other ones. Or, if you are not in urgent need of the items, hold off the checkout till the day you have more things to buy.

Pay via Gift Cards

Using branded gift cards of e-commerce companies can help save another 4-5%. You can buy these from online portals such as Paytm, PhonePe, and HDFC Smartbuy, and get instant discounts or earn cashback/rewards points. Most gift cards are valid for 12 months and can be added to respective wallets for a seamless payment experience in future.

TL;DR

Saving 25%+ on groceries is easy: shop online, buy in bulk, compare across sites, and pay through gift cards.